Isolated Prince
by thatcakewitch
Summary: All Prince Mathew wanted was to see the world outside, but his brother had forbid it when he was crowned king. Now the isolated prince may just get to see the world outside of his tower. {Currently being edited, and later updated with new chapters!}
1. Chapter 1

"Young Master, your brother bought you some new gifts." A maid outside called. She pushed the door open and set down a colorfully wrapped box, leaving immediately after. It slid down the pile of similar boxes that it had been placed on. I didn't feel like leaving my bed to open them anymore. They were just more pillows, toys, or jewels like the ones already littering the room. I didn't want more presents. That was all I had known since my brother became king.

He had said that he would keep me safe after he was crowned, but at the time I didn't think he meant this. That protecting me didn't involve what he had done. I was no longer allowed out of my room, meals and gifts from my brother being brought to me by maids. He didn't even let the male staff near my room. I know he thinks this is the right thing to do and he just wants to keep me out of danger.

But I long for the outdoors. The air and world beyond this room that my brother had forbid me from. I just wanted to see people and the world again. Not this place of isolation and objects. I want to see the world I had read of in books. Find my own happiness. But I knew that would never be as the box landed with a loud thump.

* * *

"They've reached the castle! Go get Mathew, get him into a carriage and out of the kingdom!" the king shouted over the clang of swords outside. A maid ran to the price's tower, breathing heavily and trying in vain not to panic as she talked in an urgent but quiet voice.

"Prince Mathew! Come here, quickly! There are Raiders a-" Her voice cut off as swiftly as her head did at the invaders blade, staining the door the had desperately been trying to open with her fumbling hands. The young prince crawled closer to the door, pushing aside the boxes that had stopped it from opening, to see what had happened to the poor maid. He had never heard her so frightened before. And what was a Raider?

He covered his mouth when he saw the body in front of the door and the bloodied man walking with his back to the scene.

"Alright, grab what you can carry. But don't touch the king. I want him alive to see his fallen kingdom!" the person, a monster in Mathews eyes, sounded to his men down the hall. Mathew tripped backwards on the piles of expensive possessions he had forgotten filled his room, landing with a yelp and a thud. This drew the attention of the men outside and their leader walked slowly back towards the room. The prince hurried towards a pile of pillows and dove into it, trying to bury himself in the soft mountain of fabric. But this didn't stop him from being found moments after.

"Looks like we didn't do a good enough job of clearing the place out." The ruthless man cackled, picking up the poor boy by his collar. "Holy shit you're pale. Have you ever gone outside?" Thought this was obviously meant as a joke and didn't need an answer, Mathew shook his head stiffly and the man looked around the room again. "This place is too nice for a prisoner. You the kings whore or something?" The small prince shrieked at this statement.

"Don't you dare! My brother would never have something like that!" He quickly slapped his hand over his mouth, but the damage had already been done as his captor gave a hissing laugh.

"The Kings brother? So this is the isolated little prince! I'd heard rumors of you and how much money your stupid brother spent on you!" Mathew's anger rose at every insult to his sibling, but before he could snap at the man one of the Raiders asked what they would do with him. Their leader frowned at the unholy look in the mans eyes.

"He's coming with us. Pack the little prince's stuff, and grab his royal pain in the ass brother."

Mathew suddenly didn't want to leave his tower anymore.

* * *

Authors Note:

Wow this turned out short as fuck. It filled four pages of lined paper when I wrote it down, though.

Yes this is another Royal AU. But my friend said the first half of this chapter was sad as fuck and I like making people cry over fictional characters.

I have like three other chapters written out already but I need to study so bye~


	2. Chapter 2

He and his brother were forced into a heavily guarded carriage with the leader of the hellish raid, trunks of their belongings by their feet. Alfred had been tied up across from Mathew and the criminal. The later had his arm around the small prince and a bottle of beer in his hand.

"So why'd you lock up this adorable brother of yours? Didn't want him corrupt?" The man laughed, bringing the horrid bottle to his lips and taking a few large gulps. "Or maybe you didn't want him at all? You coulda' just sold him if you wanted him gone. Woulda' made a good profit!" There was shouting outside, and the carriage halted. The fiend nearly screamed at the driver to tell him why they had stopped before a blade split through the fabric covering the front window. The Raider king died with a sword between his eyes.

The prince sat, shaking, with his eyes frozen on the impaled tyrant, not seeming to register the carriage door being opened or even being pulled out of his seat. Not even the voices around him fading became known to him as he slipped into a choking darkness.

* * *

"Mathew!" the teen king shouted the moment the gag was removed from his mouth and his brother fainted in the arms of the new group they were now at the mercy of. The group of girls quickly removed the bodies from the road and carriage, calming the horses and cleaning blood off of the expensive transportation before it stained.

"Hush! Let him sleep." A woman behind him shouted, cutting the ropes binding his arms. "Poor boy's probably been through hell. he deserves the rest." Alfred knocked her hands away from him when she attempted to help him stand.

"You don't know anything. Let him go!" The royal screeched, jumping towards his brother and forcefully taking him from the girl who had held him, shaking the prince violently. "Wake up! Come on, wake up!" the woman who had freed him grabbed his arms and a smaller girl too the younger boy away.

"That will do nothing but hurt him. Now, come with us so you can eat and tell us what happened." She urged, Pushing the king towards a forest that you could faintly see smoke billowing out of in the distance.

* * *

Alfred Unhappily explained his and his brothers royal status, as well as the tragedy they had suffered. He tried to make the women believe that the reason he needed to get Mathew back home so quickly was because he was ill, but was not believed no matter how much he stuck to this story. The leader woman, who had introduced herself as Elizaveta, asked the prince for the truth when he woke up and he reluctantly told. The girls immediately told him his brother was cruel, but Mathew shook his head as he thought back to all that had happened in the past few hours. He didn't think his brother had done anything wrong.

When night had fallen he was woken up by Elizaveta, asking him to follow her. They wandered farther into the woods until the woman stopped him and told him to wait as she slipped past a line of tall ferns. He leaned his weight on a tree for the short while that he waited before she called him over.

The sight he met upon passing the plants was breathtaking, A sparkling lake reflecting the bright moon sat in the middle of the clearing, surrounded with grass that looked greener than anything Mathew had seen in painting. Elizaveta sat by the water with a basket on a worn looking blanket, patting the spot next to her in a silent signal for him to sit by her.

"Come on, then. I even brought some food." She stated and opened the basket, which released a delightfully sugary Prince sat down as if in a daze as he looked around himself in awe.

"I figured you should at least have a good memory before you go back to that prison of a castle." She stated and handed him a small roll covered in something sticky. They were even still warm. "Go ahead and eat. This is the best cake I could get." He nodded and brought the food to his mouth slowly.

He practically moaned when he bit the pastry. Mathew had always had a love of sweets, but his brother barely ever let him have them. Something about ruining his teeth. Elizaveta giggled and ate her own food. She finished off her cake rather quickly before addressing the prince. "Tell me, Mathew, do you really want to go back?" she asked, staring him right in the eye. The prince sighed.

"I've always wanted to see the outside world, but I don't know if I will be able to survive outside of the castle for too long on my own." He said sadly, "Especially with people like that raider around. I would be dead the first day." He had no knowledge of fighting, and could barely lift some anything but the small gifts his brother got him. He was simply too weak to survive in the world he so longed to see.

Elizaveta seemed sad until she got a mischievous spark in her eye. "You can come with me." She said, "I was only dropping these girls off at their village, And it's not too far from here. We could even get you some traveling clothes while we're there." She shushed him when he began to protest. "I was going to travel west a bit, and I'd love some new company."

Mathew thought about it before looking sadly back at her. "My brother still doesn't seem to trust you much, so I don't think that he would let me." He nearly whispered, his roll abandoned in his hand. Elizaveta only smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He can come with us then! Since he seems to need to spend some time away from that castle too, it might be good for him." she assured, standing to pack up the food and the blanket." Let's go ask him. I'm sure that if you told him how much you want to, he couldn't say no."

They asked Alfred in the morning and, after some arguing and shouting, they agreed that he and his brother would accompany Elizaveta for only four months. And that they would bring the carriage.

* * *

Authors Note:

I'm gonna try to keep these relatively the same size.

I have to finish the next one, but give me some ideas because I am literally just making this up as I go.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone started packing up soon after that. One girl put out the fire, another put as much in the trunk on the back of the carriage as she could, and another got the horses hooked up. Since all of them couldn't fit in the vehicle at the same time they let everyone take turns on the way to the town. But The two royals and Elizaveta refused any offers to ride in it. Mathew wanted to look at the passing scenery. Elizaveta and Alfred were guarding, though they were guarding different things.

"My husband is at the town, so he will be joining us when we get there." Elizaveta told them when they were half way to the town. "He'll be so excited to meet royalty. Normally he only does shows for villagers." This got Mathew interested, and he didn't want to simply drop the offered conversation. Elizaveta's face lit up when Mathew asked what kind of shows he does, the prince thinking back to all of the plays or musical shows he had read about. He couldn't seem to remember any that weren't specifically for the rich, though.

"He's a musician. He's never done a show for royalty, but he likes traveling so he just plays for different villages. The kids in this town really love hearing him play and sometimes bring their own instruments." She talked about her husband the rest of the way to the village, encouraged by the girls walking with them and the young prince.

Soon they were making their way to the town square, where people were dancing and laughing to the music. Elizaveta lead them to the group of young children playing their instruments joyfully around a man with a guitar. He seemed well dressed and composed, so much so that Mathew thought he couldn't just be a traveling musician. The man looked up when Elizaveta called over to him and the children quickly scattered as the man picked up a few bags.

Elizaveta told them his name was Roderich, and he bowed before looking back at his wife."I thought the group you were escorting was only girls? Don't tell me you're picking up strays?" He seemed to study the two boys closely, while Elizaveta cleared her throat.

"These are the king and prince of one of the east kingdoms. They're going to be joining us for a few months." She explained and it seemed like Roderich wasn't breathing until he blinked the surprise out of his eyes and offered Alfred a hand

"You are brothers, I assume? You look far too close in age to be father and son." The boys nodded and the king shook his hand quickly, though Alfred showed a great bit of disdain when Mathew's hand was shook. "I hope you enjoyed that show. I've never played in the presence of Royalty before." Mathew clapped his hands and smiled like an excited child.

"It was wonderful! I wish I could play like that." He spoke the last part with a small hint of sadness. "My brother won't let me learn how to play an instrument because he says I'll hurt my hands." Alfred stood closer to his brother possessively and gave Roderich and Elizaveta a cold look, which the later returned with hate. Roderich simply seemed confused until his wife whispered something into his ear and he joined the heated looks. Mathew felt increasingly uncomfortable here.

He coughed and looked to Elizaveta with a smile. "Perhaps we should go do that shopping you promised me?"

* * *

Authors Note:

Wow I feel like this is getting worse as I write it. But, either way, you guys seem to like it.


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